Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1887-01-13

State, thus far with success They have had
the active cooperation Of the Executive, and II
Is hoped that the precautions already taken
will insure safety to the livestock OF the State
by keeping these dreaded diseases outside the
borders.
Concerning the SUPPOSED frauduiehtly paid
bounties TO many soldiers of the State; I con:
fess from reports and complaints have hereto
fore received In great numbers, that the report
brief, clear, and comprehensive End In ordet
that IL may not escape Your attention enbodS
1t verbatim In this message
OFFICE OF THE BOARD OF
STATE AUDITORS,
LANSING, Dec. 3, 1885.
Hon. II. A. Alger, Governor:
DEAR SIR-The Board OF State Auditors, aH
authorized and instructed by Act 1877 Of the ses-
sion laws Of 1885, have carefully examined and
determined as to the rights Of certain claimants
to State bounties alleged to have been paid by
the State upon forged or fraudulent vouchers.
Publicity was given TO the time and place of
meetings OF the Board by advertisement in the
sssJS ana % tRsry sRs prRc riRacH Shd s0S conf
venience afforded to claimants for the presenta-
tion OF their cases. All claims presented were
time and labor given as each required Vouch-
ers and records wero critically examined wit
pesses sworn and questioned, and every possi-
bio method adopted TO get at the facts In eao h
case, A humber OF claimants, after seeing for
themselves the records and vouchers, admitted
that they had signed the vouchers or assign-
ments. In many cases, TO save costs TO claim
ants, their cases were investigated In their own
localities, at tho expense Of the State, by an
| agent of this Board.
The Board have not found single case where
they were not satisfied that the claimants had
| either received the amounts due, or properly
assigned the claim to third, party, Attached
hereto you will find list OF claimants, with the
adjudication and determination In each case.
| All OF which is respectfully submitted.
Csigned by the following Board Of State Aud
itors3
| H. A. CoNANT,
| Secretary Of State.
| Il. H. BUTLER,
State Treasurer.
MINOR NEWELL,
BY act OF Congres. II Sept. 2s, 1850.
4:
the secretary 81 pms osy " yeoming within
sSses sSs grant, hsvo but Of only
leaving a balance due 5She State Of i'TiI,.
oS.'CS. Through errors in the local cfices,
or by design, the greater part Of this
ment The claim for the deficiency has been
prepared by the State Land Department and
presented to the Inderior Department. It has
In elect been allowed, and the first ifistallment
OF indemnity for the land sold received and
covered into the treasury Some portion OF the
claim Will " doubt be rejected, but IL can be
indemnity for tho greater part of It, 1t is rea-
sonable 10 hope that the State will receive
several hundred thousand dollars from this
source, This is the result Of vigorous work by
the Land Department Of this State Of late.
Ihere have been, during my term Of office,
several strikes among the laborers Of the State,
me one involving the largest number occurred
IN the Saginaw Valley during the summer OF
1888. Upon acquisitions OF the respective Sher-
iiis OF Saginaw and Bay Counties, troops wer6
called out, and 1t is with great pleasure 1 am
able to state that, although great loss in wages
and stoppago in business was caused by the
strike, no lives were lost or property destroyed.
state veterinarian was duly appointed,
cording to law also a Board OF Pharmacy,
e. Witch hBs9e3rtapes 2 ahf shate i ST;
to an alarming extent. The State was thor
oughly quarantined, and, upon request receiv-
ed the active cooperation of the general govern
ment and 40 thoroupblv was N dona a. ;s r.
lieved no case Of small pox occurred in Michi-
gan in consequence thereof.
There have been several commissions ap-
pointed for commercial, agricultural and his-
torical purposes. 1 beg to call your especial
attention to the report Of Justice Jas. v. Camp
bell, also submitted concerning proposed Con-
stitutional Celebration, and ask for your favor
able action concerning IL.
The Advisory Board in the matter OF pardons
has been Of incalculable benefit to the Execu-
tive. Under tho law creating It, IL has been
possible TO accomplish very much that other
wise could not have been done. This board has
taken great pains In examining the many cases
that have applied for pardon, and its report
which is very full. is herewith submitted The
great amount OF labor which the Executive of a
idTBe OJdIS ID ODllReu 10 perform makes it utter
ly impossible for him to examine all the appli-
cations for pardon, and without a board sim
liar TO this many deserving cases must have
been neglected; and it is much better for
the State to appropriate the small sum neces-
sary Co carry along its work than to allow a
single innocent person to suffer imprisonment.
ask your committee to examine fully the work
OF this board, which will be found in the Execu-
tive Office, and will, am sure prove very inter-
esting and instructive. 1 recommend that an
appropriation be made for q salary for clerk of
for the work OF the board equal to the former
appropriation. The work has been so much
more extensive than was anticipated that
tho appropriation having been exhausted
for such clerk, the members OF the Board who
received pay only when actually employed, are
paying the clerk out Uf their own private means
This should not be. An examination OF the
prison records shows very great and unjust
inequality of sentences for the same crime by
the judges Of tho different courts OF the State
In many instances the sentence is three or four
times as long as in others for the same offense I
recommend that this Advisory Board be charged
with the duty OF thoroughly overhauling the
prison records and Of recommending to the
Executive such combinations as will in a
measure equalize these punishments, unless
of course, as far as 1t it is found the punish
ment is too light for the offense This inequaIi-
ty OF sentences creates great disaffection among
prisoners, and justly so. 1t is a very serious
question, and should be, as no doubt it will be-
carefully considered.
1 believe, in view OF the fact that 30 many
people are imprisoned who are not of the GRIM
inal class, IL would lie wise, just, and humane
to pass n law establishing a ticket Of leave sva
tom, to be guarded, OF course, with every pos
sible restriction, to be operated much the same
as in the State of Ohio and when it is thought
apwsUnT PTsUner wi reform given an Opportunity
a law enacted that by simple process the
person can be apprehended and re-
balance Of his sentence II he violated his parole
An attempt was made the past year In jackson
in the case OF one Moore, who was paruoned
conditionally, and who violated the terms Of his
pardon, to re-imprison him. The case was car
ried to the Supreme Court, the act of re-arrest-
ing and imprisoning him declared unconstitu-
tional, and he is to-day free man. This should
not be, as the parole should be thoroughly un-
derstood to mean what it says.
lbelieve that very little is accomplished in
prison In way OF reform Of convicts. From the
very nature OF the case they, as a rule, from
the day Of their incarceration TO the time OF
their discharge, are planning some means OF
escape, or nursing some imagined wrong, and
are therefore 70 great extent in a constant
state of rebellion. Therefore, I believe the
ticket-of-leave system, IL carefully guarded,
would, as reform measure, work with bene-
hcial results except upon the vicious and nntur-
ally criminal class.
1t is n great pity that we have no really in
termediate grade Of prison where convicts not
OF the criminal class can be kept separate from
My report in accordance with requirements
Of the law concerning pardous and commuta-
tions is herewith submitted.
Under the statute authorizing the foreclosure
of real estate mortgages by advertisement very
great injustice may be, and believe often is
done. All that Is now necessary TO effect such
a foreclosure is that the mortgagee shall pub
lish n notice in some Newspaper Of the county
where the property lies, or II no paper Is pub
lished there. in the nearest published paper,
once ench week for twelve successive weeks
stating the name Of the mortgages and mort
gageor, the amount due, time and place.of pro-
posed sale Of property, etc. II is not required
that copy of this notice shall be
On ha